The New GhostRider

GhostRider is back and it’s a woodie to fall in love with. The ride is butter smooth, lateral filled, unstoppable and features our favorite friend: airtime. It’s great to see this popular ride return to its original glory with brand new Millennium Flyer trains and a ride experience that feels out of control, but without breaking your back. Let’s take a look at what riding the new GhostRider is like!

– Recently our images have popped up on other sites and forums, awesome that our coverage spreads, not so awesome that no one mentioned where they got the images from. We are totally fine with our audience using our images, BUT ONLY IF credit is given to californiacoasterkings.com. Thank you! –

Let’s start with a shot of the brand new Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant with the new GhostRider towering over it. 🙂 The entrance to the ride is in the same spot, the line has been slightly redirected to pass behind the new Panning for Gold attraction. The ride’s overall look of the station hasn’t changed. Looking authentic and remains a perfect fit for Ghost Town. Speaking of which, we’re incredibly glad the park decided to revamp it, keeping the ride wooden. An RMC would have been great, sure. But the appeal of Knott’s is Ghost Town, the western feel. If there’s one park in the state, or one themed area of any park in the world that simply needs a wooden coaster to feel this complete… it’s Knott’s Berry Farm/ Ghost Town. Before we dive into the ride experience, how about you check out a POV of the ride, note the smoothness and speed of the new GhostRider!

Let’s start with the pre-lift. It’s high-speed, as it’s always been. Only this time around, there’s no pre-pain before the rest of the ride 😉 But then you get to the lift, and with the lift engaging in the fourth car (may you be seated in row four) you may feel your car being lifted. In addition, the lift shows off the awesome wobbling of the Millennium Flyer trains! And then there’s the drop! We all know the drop has always been very good, and again the front provides a tad of air, but nowhere near as significantly as the back! The real difference lays in how smooth the drop is and the curve on the bottom of the drop that has been altered to be a smoother transition. We all know how badly it used to beat you up. Then comes the glorious giant airtime hill, that is actually filled with airtime. All the way through if you’re riding in the front, with a nice pop of air entering the hill. The back delivers that sweet drag over the hill providing airtime on the way down! The next section of the ride is the fun turnaround near Beach Blvd. with the dip. The track is tilted about 45 degrees at the top of the element leading into the downward curve. This delivers a bit of air, but most importantly a nice bit of laterals. All while being incredibly CGI-like smooth! The ride then heads into the next drop which starts off shallow and becomes steep offering a hint of air. The trains then race into the next element: a giant turn. This turn used to be one of the worst transitions on the ride. But with some GCI magic the first part of the turn is laterals filled, which is followed by some nice banking in the second half, diving into the structure to lead up to the turnaround above the station. This big turn seen below is one of the high speed elements of the ride where you really start noticing how incredibly good GhostRider has gotten again! After the turn around the train immediately dives into the third big drop on the ride. Without the MCBR and with a lot less friction, the ride is a lot faster and a lot more airtime-filled. The drop is followed by two small elevated turns through which the train absolutely flies! Making it a personal favorite section of the ride, especially when sitting in the front. You’re being thrown around vertically and laterally in a smooth way. Which is then followed by a smooth little airtime hill seen below. After snaking through the structure’s turn around on the other side of the structure (which is filled with even more laterals) the train dives into the next series of hills before getting to the final helix. The final helix is absolutely crazy! With almost no banking and an incredible speed you’re being swung out of your seat sideways during the entirety of the element, and it’s just amazing. If you pay close attention you may even feel the train sliding on the up-stops! And then riders return… And for some odd reason those in my picture are all looking in odd directions. That my friends… is what the GhostRider does to you… Taking a look at the trains by the way, GhostRider’s new Millennium Flyer trains have firm seating rather than very soft seating, creating a bit of a different seating experience than the other Millennium Flyer trains. But these trains snake through the ride’s course like no other! Unlike the speed, the banking has hardly been changed, creating for some unbelievably awesome and forceful lateral movements. Which become increasingly more apparent with the final helix being absolutely insane. All while being butter smooth. This is the way GhostRider was meant to be! Overall we had a great time riding it all day. The back being more intense, especially the second half of the ride. The front being more airtime filled and throws you around more on several hills and lateral elements. Wherever you’re seated… it’s just awesome! Come out to Knott’s Berry Farm and ride. But before you do, watch me ride!

Thank you for checking out this look at the 2016 GhostRider, an experience that can’t be missed!

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We also went live with a bunch of cool The Joker articles, as the newest coaster in California has now opened to the public! Read our following detailed works:

Depending on what you’re looking for. GhostRider is grander and combines a lot more elements and some airtime and lateral forces that Gold Striker is missing. Yet Gold Striker feels more non-stop and chaotic all the way through.

Nice review and videos! I’m also glad that they went with GCI over Rocky Mountain. I love Twisted Colossus (and was not at all upset to see that aging monstrosity get the RM treatment), but I would have been heartbroken to have my beloved Ghostie become a hybrid. I was there yesterday for the grand reopening, but wasn’t able to ride because of the really long line, and the fact that my kids probably would not have even gotten on. I’ll get my ride soon, though.

As for it now being “returned to its former glory and smoothness,” I never exactly remember GR being “butter smooth” but it definitely was bone jarring in spots where it hadn’t been before. And as any enthusiast (or former enthusiast like me) would attest, removal of the MCBR is glorious!